Sabotage
by Expendable Red Shirt
Summary: When Matt goes on a date with Linda, Mello can only think of one thing: sabotage. Matt finds out, and his only question is why. One-sided, slight Linda/Matt, mainly Mello/Matt.


_If _x - 4(c + 2) = y_, then what is _c + 2_ in terms of _x_ and _y_?_

Ugh, _yawn_. Could this get any easier? Seriously. Were they _not_ at an orphanage for genii? This was simple algebra. Thirteen-year-old Mello could do it in his sleep.

He lazily scribbled down the answer: _(y - x) / -4_

So why, if this math was so simple, was it taking him so long to complete his homework? They had been assigned thirty problems from the textbook, a task that would normally take Mello, averaging 20 to 30 seconds a problem, about thirteen minutes. He was only halfway done now, and had already passed the 40-minute mark. Something was distracting him.

Okay, more like some_one_.

Matt, lying on his stomach on the floor, completely enthralled with whatever video game he was playing, had no idea what a huge distraction he was posing to his best friend. Recently, it had become increasingly difficult for Mello to focus on anything _but_ the redhead, really. The blond found himself staring blankly at his roommate as he was trying to go to sleep at night, then dreaming about him when he finally did, then waking up early so he could watch the cute display of Matt fighting off consciousness.

That's right—_cute_.

So yeah, he was gay. And yeah, he had a big, fat, creepy crush on his best friend. But did any of that come as a surprise? To _anyone_?

While it wasn't a surprise figuring all this out, it sure made everything a heck of a lot more difficult. In class, he found himself staring at and daydreaming about Matt instead of taking notes or even paying attention in class. Not to mention, he shared a fuckin' room with the guy. Matt didn't bother to change in the bathroom except for before and after his showers, and he seemed to be fond of parading around the room in his boxers, as if he was _trying_ to turn Mello on. It frustrated the blond to no end.

Mello didn't realize he was staring at Matt until said gamer suddenly jumped up and turned to Mello. Mello was startled, but didn't show it.

The redhead looked nervous. "Mels, I have…. something to… tell you. It's been bugging me for… a few days now."

Mello's hopes skyrocketed. Maybe Matt had realized he was in love with him, too, and was going to confess his true feelings. Maybe Matt was going to ask him out on a date. Maybe—

"I have a date tonight," Matt blurted, causing Mello's high hopes to come plummeting to the ground. When Mello didn't completely explode on him, or even say anything, really, he figure it safe enough to go on. "It's with Linda."

Mello's throat suddenly felt tight. "That's… great… Matt… I guess…" Mello squeaked.

Matt looked cautious. "So you're _not_ angry at me for not telling you till the last minute?" Mello simply shook his head, for if he tried to talk now he would most likely start sobbing hysterically, and wouldn't be able to stop. "Oh… okay…. I guess I'll go take a shower, then. The date's in an hour."

And when the time came for Matt to go on his date (to the movies in town with Linda), Mello had only one thought in his mind: sabotage. And it just so happened that Mello was an incredibly talented pickpocket.

~~M&Ms~~

Matt patted all his pockets again, but his wallet was nowhere to be found. He gave Linda a sheepish look, and apologized. "I'm so sorry. I really thought I had it with me when I left. I must've dropped it somewhere."

Linda simply sighed and rolled her eyes, and paid for both their tickets. Matt placed his ticket in his pocket while they were buying some ridiculously overpriced snacks and the snack bar, and couldn't seem to find it when the had to present their tickets to get into the theater. The teenager working the stand obviously didn't care, though, and told Matt he could go on in.

During the movie, whenever he tried to hold Linda's hand, or ever come close to touching her, someone would pelt him with popcorn. He repeatedly looked back to try and figure out who was doing it, but he never did catch the culprit. He figured it was one of those insane Christian moms who followed her children to the movies to spy on them and had happened to see Matt with Linda and wanted to make sure no 'inappropriate' touching took place. None of the popcorn ever hit Linda, so he assumed she thought that he didn't want to hold her hand.

Whenever he opened his mouth to speak, he got another spit-out gummy bear thrown at his hair. If anything, Matt was proud of his hair, and he didn't want it to be infested by sticky little gummy bears, so the movie passed in silence. He wouldn't even respond when Linda said something, daring only to nod his head, ever so slightly so that the Christian mom wouldn't see and hit him with more unhealthy snacks.

Matt went to the snack bar to get a refill on his Coke, and as he was passing Linda on the way back, with a full cup, something, though he couldn't see, in the darkness of the theater, what—it could have been a hand or a foot or a snake or anything like that—came out of nowhere and tripped him. His soda spilled all over Linda. The artist was glaring at him harshly by then, and who could blame her? This _had_ been a pretty horrible date.

When the movie had about thirty minutes to go, Matt knew he couldn't make it. He had to pee _so_ bad. The two large Cokes weren't helping any. So he got up, took care of his… erm… business, and went to return to the theater. But the apathetic teenager from before had been replaced by a grouchy old woman with an ugly mole on her face. Matt tried to pass without looking at her mole, which he thought might have some hair growing on it, but she stopped him.

"Ticket," she demanded.

Matt gulped. "Well, you see, I _did_ buy my ticket, I know because my date had to buy it for me because I left my wallet back at the orphanage"—he paused shortly here, giving the last part a chance to soak in; it was always a good idea to play the 'orphan' card, as it usually earned sympathy—"but, it must have fallen out of my pocket, because I can't find it."

"Likely story."

"But—"

"No ticket, no movie. Simple as that," she cut him off. "You got a problem with it, take it up with management."

Matt sighed and walked towards the front to wait until the movie ended. Linda would probably be happier without him there, anyway, the way their night was going. Somehow, he got the feeling there wasn't going to be any second date. Not that he really cared. He'd only said yes because it was a cool movie and Linda was usually fun to hang out with. Needless to say, he hadn't expected what was supposed to be just a fun night with a girl he was friends with to go like _this._

About fifteen minutes to go till the movie ended, and Matt was bored out of his mind. He decided to pass the time people-watching. There was a guy hitting on the girl at the ticket booth, and his blandly pretty date looking very pissed. There was a fat, old-ish lady arguing heatedly with a security guard about bringing her toy poodle into the theater. There were two kids being dragged into a young children's movie by their mother. The was a blond androgynous (as far as Matt could tell, at least) figure dressed in all black slipping out of the theater, trying not to be noticed. There was—

Hey wait a minute. That blond was Mello. He could recognize that golden halo of hair anywhere. There was no way this was simply coincidence. And, because he was a genius and no less would be expected of him, he immediately understood that Mello was trying to ruin his date with Linda. Now all he needed to figure out was _why_.

The blond seemed to notice him then, and any doubts Matt had about whether it was Mello or not were erased as sapphire eyes locked on emerald. And they were both running. Back to the orphanage a few blocks away. Mello, to escape Matt's fury and/or sad-puppy eyes (he didn't know which was worse); Matt, to get answers from Mello.

Mello, who liked to play soccer, and was in much better shape than the gamer who would gladly stay inside playing video game for his entire life if Mello didn't force him to go outside, made it to Wammy's first. He ran for the first place his instincts told him to go, which ended up being the large tree on the side of the courtyard that Matt and Mello had claimed as _theirs_, going so far as to carve their names into the tough bark. When Matt finally got there, himself, he went straight to the very same tree.

"Mello," he gasped as soon as he was seated on a branch next to the blond, out of breath from the run. "Why… did you… ruin… my date... with Linda?"

"I, um, I—I just, well…"

Matt couldn't be sure because it was dark out, with the nearly-full waxing moon their only light, but he could have sworn Mello's cheeks were bright pink. The redhead smirked slyly. "You like Linda, don't you Mels?" he guessed.

"That's not—"

Matt put his hands up to stop Mello. "No need to explain to me, Mels. I'll back off. I wouldn't have gone out with Linda, had I suspected…. I don't really have a crush on her, anyway. She asked me out and I happened to want to see the movie that was out, and Linda's a cool enough girl. But if you didn't want me to go out with her, you could've just said so. I guess that's why you acted like that when I told you I was going out on a date with her. It makes se—"

"I don't have a crush on Linda, Matt!" Mello yelled, to stop his friend's babbling. Matt shut up immediately and turned to look Mello right in the eye. His goggles were around his neck, as they had been since entering the dark theater with Linda at the beginning of the horrid night, so the full power of Matt's eyes was unleashed on an unsuspecting Mello. He was rendered speechless for a few seconds, but finally managed to whisper hoarsely, "I like someone else."

Matt looked puzzled, and he cocked his head to the side. "If you like some other girl, then why did you sabotage my date with Linda? Why did it matter? Were you jealous that I was going out on a date and you weren't. I don't see why you would be. I—"

Mello leaned forward and pressed his lips to Matt's. For a few seconds, he marveled and the softness and tenderness of Matt's lips. He basked in the glorious feeling of finally kissing Matt, something he had been dreaming about for so long now—though it wasn't going as far as some of the _other_ things he'd been hoping to do with Matt. Still, for a few seconds, Mello enjoyed a little peace of heaven. Actually, he was pretty sure that he could make it through hell, if he could hold on to this one moment that was probably better than _anything_ heaven had to offer.

But then reality had to come crashing back down on him, and he pulled away from Matt, tears instantly welling up in his eyes. "Does that answer your question?" The tears were falling now, coming harder, as Matt nodded numbly and stared into space. Mello knew what he had just done. He had just ruined any chance he had at love, and pushed away the only person that really understood him. He was such an idiot.

Matt, shocked by Mello's sudden not-quite-confession and even more by his sudden kiss, stared into the moon, asking the 'man on the moon' that he had sung to as a child if he could help him out now, in return for the years of music. And help, the moon man did.

Mello's gorgeous face took over the moon, at least to Matt. He stared at the beautiful, shining depths of Moon Mello's blue, blue eyes. It was like staring into a crystal-clear ocean that has pure liquid sapphire in place of water. He and Mello had always gone together; everyone knew it. One without the other simply could not be. They fit together perfectly, like two pieces in one of those jigsaw puzzles Near was so fond of.

How had he ever even thought he could love anyone else? They balanced each other out perfectly. The only people they trusted enough to open up to were each other. They were meant to be. Soul mates, if you will.

Matt heard a pained sigh come from beside him, and looked over just in time to see Mello about to climb down from their tree. Matt grabbed his arm to stop him, and Mello didn't have time to ask before Matt's lips were crushed against his. Mello was tense at first, surprised, but immediately melted into the kiss. It felt so _right_. This was what he had been dreaming of, Matty pulling him in for a kiss just like that.

Matt nibbled his bottom lip a bit, and Mello granted entrance. Their tongues fought for dominance for only a short while; Matt quickly submitted to Mello. At least that solved the problem of who would be uke and who would be seme when they eventually did do that. Matt noted that Mello's mouth tasted like chocolate. The blond might get him addicted to the stuff yet. When they had to break for air, Matt simply rested his forehead against Mello's, and they held each other tenderly. After a few minutes of pure bliss, though, Matt jumped down from the tree.

Mello, startled by the sudden movement, demanded, "Hey, what are you doing? I was enjoying our moment."

"Making some minor changes to this tree of ours," Matt answered vaguely.

Mello, who had never been as good a jumper as Matt, climbed down to join him. Matt took out a pocketknife and began to carve into the tree, where it said:

MelloMatt

Mello watched curiously as Matt carved:

_Love_

_4ever_

And then, to finish it off, he carved a big heart around the whole thing. Mello smiled and Matt. "I assume this means we're boyfriend and… boyfriend now?"

Matt smiled back and hugged Mello lightly. "Normal friends don't typically carve their names into trees with 'love forever' written underneath and a heart around it. So yeah, as far as I'm concerned, we definitely are."

Mello and Matt held each other and looked at the engraving, announcing to anyone who looked at it over the years that they would always be together.

~~M&Ms~~

Since it was a Saturday, Matt slept in until nearly noon. It was odd for him, though, that he got this much sleep. Mello never went anywhere without Matt and usually woke him up at about nine or ten on Saturdays so they could go outside and hang out in their tree or play games like soccer and tag on the big field with the other children (not mention eat breakfast). But Mello was in a good mood that day, and was content to watch Matt as he slept while the sun rose high in the sky.

They got out of their room just in time for lunch. The dining hall was already filled with whispers before they arrived. Most had seen the tree. Rumors spread like wildfire. Still, there was always the chance that this was some sort of joke, so if Matt and Mello hadn't walking into the dining hall holding hands, it would be fair to assume that they would have been bombarded by questions from eighty-three little genius detectives-in-training.

But they did walk in holding hands, and so there was only a collective gasp. Everyone was staring at them as they got their food and went to sit at their usual table, though this time next to each other instead of across from each other, and much closer together. The children's eyes remained focused on the pair as they ate. Finally, Mello couldn't take the staring, and yelled, so everyone could hear him, "Are any of you really surprised? I mean think about it; it's _me_ and _Matt_."

There were several murmurs agreeing with his statement, and everyone turned back to their groups of friends as if nothing had happened. After all, everyone had always said it was something inevitable, that it was just a matter of time before the two best friends got together. So no, when they thought about it, it really wasn't surprising at all.

Matt heard a small cough from behind him and turned around to be faced with none other than Linda. In the midst of Mello's confession and Matt's epiphany, he had completely forgotten about ditching her at the movies.

"Linda, I'm so—"

"It's okay," she out a hand up to stop him. She didn't look angry at all; she had a small, knowing smile on her face. "I'm not mad at you. I figured it out." Well, she wasn't sixth at Wammy's for nothing. "And there is obviously someone you belong with. I just wanted to give you this. Here. I'm glad you're with Mello." She handed him a folded piece of thick paper, gave the happy couple a little wave, and went to go sit back down with her friends.

Matt unfolded the paper to reveal a sketch of him and Mello from the night before, when they were holding each other in the tree. From the curve of their bodies, you could see they were each trying to shield the other from all pain and loneliness in the world. In Mello's eyes, you could see the burning passion—she had somehow managed to capture the crystal fire of his eyes in a black-and-white drawing. In Matt the love was evident, as well, but he radiated an aura of devotion and happiness. It was like she had captured their souls on the paper.

"What's that?" Mello asked, and peered over his boyfriend's should to get a better look. He soon fell into awed silence, just as Matt had.

From that day on, Matt never went anywhere without the drawing, whether it be folded up in his pocket or flattened against his chest, as it was when he was shot to death by Takada's body guards and as he waited for Mello to join him in the afterlife (turns out he didn't have to wait long).

The carving is still there, and a Wammy's rule passed a few days after their death forbids anyone from messing with Matt and Mello's carving or carving anything else into the tree. The tree is a favorite of the children for climbing and playing on, and they say they can almost feel the boys' spirits, so happy and complete with each other. It is also the most respected tree at Wammy's, as it has become somewhat of a memorial tree, with children dropping off video games and chocolate, and teenagers leaving leather jackets, rosaries, and packs of cigarettes.

The tree still blossoms, as does there love in wherever they went after death – it doesn't really matter, because they are together. And years from now, the children of Wammy's will still be able to pass the memorial tree, and see that every now and then, you find a love that really does last forever.


End file.
